outage

American  

[ou-tij] / ˈaʊ tɪdʒ /

noun

• outages
  plural

1. an interruption or failure in the supply of power, especially electricity.

2. the period during which power is lost.

   a two-hour outage on the East Coast.

3. a stoppage in the functioning of a machine or mechanism due to a failure in the supply of power or electricity.

4. the quantity of goods lost or lacking from a shipment.

5. Aeronautics. the amount of fuel used during a flight.

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outage British  

/ ˈaʊtɪdʒ /

noun

1. a quantity of goods missing or lost after storage or shipment

2. a period of power failure, machine stoppage, etc

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• outages
  plural

Etymology

Origin of outage

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05; out + -age

Explanation

An outage is a sudden interruption in a service. An internet outage means you'll have to wait to watch your favorite show online. You may experience a power outage during a hurricane or snowstorm, when you can’t flip on the lights or use the microwave until crews repair the electrical lines. A computer network or server outage can have many causes (sometimes these are scheduled breaks in service, allowing maintenance to be done). Outages can be annoying and inconvenient, or even dangerous. The American coinage outage, first used in 1903, was modeled on shortage.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

outage outages

The power cuts have made normal life almost impossible, with each outage also meaning that water supplies trickle away and ceiling fans slow to a halt.

From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026

If an outage strikes, it provides backup power.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Investigators said they’re looking into the circumstances surrounding the power outage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

Xbox's technology chief said an "unacceptable" outage on Monday should not have stopped people from playing their games on physical discs.

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

I hated that my experiment had caused a power outage.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

There have been at least six nationwide blackouts this year, with countless localized dayslong power outages.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

Puerto Rico’s crumbling infrastructure has long been an issue for the island’s residents, with frequent power and water outages.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Wildfires across more than 250,000 acres have forced evacuations and caused power outages in the Washington state's Spokane area, officials said.

From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026

UNE says the fuel shortages have made the national grid more susceptible to outages and made the use of emergency generators -- which typically run on diesel fuel -- all but impossible.

From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026

I’d suffered the aftereffects, of course—power outages across the camp, White Noise when the camp controllers thought one of them had done it on purpose.

From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken

Related Words

• blackout
• brownout
• disruption
• interruption